Would you give me your opinion please?

I recently sold this painting titled Hero at a private gallery function.  It went very quickly (within 30 mins) to a wonderful couple from Texas.  There is an idea to make a limited edition print of it. I am not so sure as it is quite different than anything we have done previously, with its abstracted background.  The painting was very large, 48" X 72" and if we do a print it also would have to be fairly large in order to show the scale of the elephant.  So do you think this would be a good print or would you prefer a print of Metamorphosis, shown below?

The Kingdom-complete

Here is the painting, The Kingdom, complete.  I know some of you were able to piece the previous images together, so you will have a bigger image.  Unfortunately, because the painting is such a long panoramic, it is hard to show much detail here.  If anyone wants a good, detailed, image file go to my image gallery here and you can view it and download the bigger image.  (You can also access some images of older work from some of the albums posted at this site)

The Kingdom— Part 4

Here is the final image in the long painting, The Kingdom, which I am releasing this week.  If you are interested in purchasing this piece, it is available through Lahaina Galleries at 800.228.2006 or through your art consultant.

The Kingdom— Part 3

Here is the third part of The Kingdom, featuring Giant Sequoia and some more bears.  Tomorrow I will post the final part of this new painting.

The Kingdom— Part 2

There will actually be only four images of the whole painting.  Here is today's, the second, which attaches to yesterday's image.  Perhaps by now you have recognized some of the vignettes as being taken from previous paintings.  Here you see The Bathers and The Exchange featured.

The Kingdom — Part 1

I am now finishing The Kingdom, a 2ft X 10ft painting, depicting bears in a landscape.  As this is a long, narrow painting, it is often observed by "reading" it, like a Chinese scroll painting.  In this case walking from left to right.  Over the next four days I will publish a new section each day until it is complete.  If you want to print it out each day, by day five you will be able to put the entire painting together.  It has five parts total.  Here is the first part, which starts at the left-hand side:

Bear basics

Woman scares off charging bear – with a courgette.

 ...a what?  That is one of these in the US and at this time of year they can get really hard and heavy!

Cucurbita pepo ovifera (Zucchini)

 Here is the story from the Guardian (UK):

A woman fended off a bear attack on her back porch today by using the first weapon she could reach – a courgette. The woman was stirred by midnight noises in her garden near Frenchtown, Montana. She went to investigate and found a 90kg (14st) black bear attacking her 12-year-old collie. She screamed to divert the bear's attention but it charged her.
"The bear growled and was very aggressive, and tried to come inside her back door," said Sheriff Lieutenant Rich Maricelli of Missoula County. "She was able to stop the pursuing bear by improvising."
The bear took a swipe at her with its paw and tore her jeans. The woman jumped back and grasped the nearest object on her kitchen counter inside the doorway – a 30cm long courgette. She threw the courgette at the bear from a distance she estimated to be about a metre, The vegetable hit the bear on the top of its head and the animal fled, Maricelli said. State wildlife officials started a search for the bear.

(Exactly why the 12 year old Collie was in the garden at midnight in bear country is not made clear but now the police are hunting down the bear?) 


On a related note(kind of) here is a photo from Joe Wilson:

Now I dont have to worry if I leave my claw clippers at home.

Arts Funding Today

Arts impact all aspects of our lives.  Art can change attitudes and open eyes. Without art, nations become myopic and insular.  According to my recent issue of Modern Painters, the British government allocates $12.38 per person for arts funding.  Germany, France and Finland are even higher. 

In the United States we allocate 54¢ per person. 

Here is a fun video , titled An Important Message as artists all over Britain fight for not cutting spending on the arts, which the current government is trying to do.  Anglophiles can go here to sign a petition in support of my home country's UK arts funding.

Peace and Chalk

CHALK4PEACE is one great organization!  John Aaron is a artist dedicated to raising consciousness around the planet and getting all of us involved in expressing ourselves through art.   John began CHALK4PEACE in 2003 as a sidewalk event chalk project for children and has grown the movement to encompass four continents.  Anybody can put on an event with some spare sidewalk and some chalk.  All it involves is getting kids and adults together to make art, have fun expressing themselves, and focus on peace in our world.  I like the fact that young minds can make art with one of the oldest drawing mediums—pure, simple fun! This in a time when arts programs are being cut in many of our schools.  I encourage you to visit his website and donate something if you can.  Also, there are many CHALK4PEACE events going on in September, so there may be one near you that you can visit.

There is a blog here and you can also visit them on Facebook.